Stage 2 - The beauty and the beast

Stage 2. Jekyll and Hyde. The Beauty and the Beast. 125km from Soelden (Austria) across
two monstrous passes to Brixen (Italy). The Timmelsjoch (2600m) and the Passo Jovio.

Luxury - I woke up at 7am this morning having slept for more than 8hrs.
Parents of young twins and active business travelers will appreciate that
amazing feeling. But ouch....I immediately realized that I wasn't feeling
well. Slightly cold, achy. A look outside the window didn't help. Dark and
waterfalls of rain. Outright nasty - the Beast. For some reason I also had
a hard time eating anything for breakie. We were already wet by the time
the race started. Ironically, we were amongst the last 20 people to cross
the start line. Our fellow riders were immediately pushing really hard.
Surprising. The road would climb for about 25km. The rain came down hard.
But we quickly settled into a nice pace and overtook a bunch of people. I
felt great. What a change - the beauty.

The first climb took over 1:43h. The descent was brutal - Mr Hyde. Freezing
temperatures, piercing rain and a really narrow road made for anything but
fun riding. Despite the high quality gear that I put on I was shivering so
hard at the bottom that I could barely hold the handle bars anymore. It was
disappointing that we couldn't enjoy the landscape. Too many clouds and too
much focus required.

Luckily the next climb (1:46h) followed right after and we warmed up again
(when is the last time you looked forward to climbing 1300m?). Adnan and I
continued to ride well. Despite near freezing temps at the top, the descent
was much better this time. No more shaking.

The rest of the day was fine. It warmed up and we had a nice and fast ride
into Brixen. Still a long day: 5:35h.

Kcal: 3471, 3000m of climbing, avg speed: 21km/h, avg watts 174, avg HR 139

Final comment: We are riding very carefully and try to save energy where
possible. Our average wattage numbers on the climbs are nothing to brag
about. Today, I averaged 238 watts on the first climb whereas my threshold
is at around 300 watts. It is not easy sometimes to hold back.  But with a
7 day stage race, the objective is not to have 1-2 good days but to
facilitate recovery over and over again. And that means minimizing power
out put where possible.